Message from Mars

Father and daughter decipher message coming from Mars.

Ken and Keli Chaffin, a father/daughter team from the US, have deciphered a simulated “extraterrestrial” message that was transmitted in May 2023 via a radio signal sent by the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. The message was intercepted by three observatories on Earth. It was part of a project which aimed to engage citizen scientists in decoding an alien message.

The Chaffins realized that the message contained a diagram that represented the structures of five amino acids, the fundamental building blocks of life. According to specialists, the Chaffins conducted hours-long simulations every day and ultimately organized the bits into coherent structures using computer simulations and reversible cellular automata.

The simulated signal was received on Earth 16 minutes after it was sent. A worldwide community of over 5,000 citizen scientists went to work on the raw data and managed to extract the signal within ten days. This extraction of the encrypted message from the raw radio signal showcases the potential of global collaboration

The project, called “A Sign in Space”, was initiated by artist Daniela de Paulis in collaboration with the European Space Agency, the SETI Institute, the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia, and the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics. It was conceived to test which methods might be useful for decoding transmissions from extraterrestrial civilizations.

According to the European Space Agency, the results of the project showed that if humanity ever receives a signal from real extraterrestrials, citizen scientists could play a crucial role in deciphering it. The involvement of so many amateur scientists and the success of the Chaffins demonstrate the power of collaborative efforts and diverse approaches.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/father-daughter-duo-decipher-message-coming-from-mars/ar-AA1tpWJl?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=6fc7dd98f17b42d8852b3bbcb7f5d7c6&ei=69

Ancient Europeans were Dark

New research finds that most prehistoric Europeans had dark skin, hair, and eyes until about 3,000 years ago.

The genes that cause lighter skin, hair and eyes emerged among early Europeans only about 14,000 years ago, during the Old Stone Age. But light features appeared only sporadically until relatively recently. If I had to guess, I would say that the genes for lighter features are recessive, and a person would have had to get the recessive genes from both mother and father, which wouldn’t have happened that often.

Lighter skin may have had an evolutionary advantage for Europeans because it enabled people to synthesize more vitamin D in Europe’s weaker sunlight. But lighter eye color, like blue or green, does not seem to have any major evolutionary advantages, so its eventual emergence may have been driven by chance or sexual selection.

Scientists analyzed 348 samples of ancient DNA from archaeological sites in 34 countries in Western Europe and Asia. The oldest, from 45,000 years ago, was from western Siberia, and another high-quality DNA sample came from a 9,000-year-old individual from Sweden. But many of the older samples were badly degraded, in which case the researchers estimated their pigmentation using “probabilistic phenotype inference” and the HlrisPlex-S system, which can predict eye, hair, and skin color from an incomplete DNA sample.

Palaeoanthropologists think the first Homo sapiens arrived permanently in Europe between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago, which meant they weren’t far removed from African modern human ancestors. Therefore, early Europeans initially only had genetics for dark skin, hair, and eyes. This coloring relies on hundreds of interconnected genes.

The study showed that the frequency of people dark skin was still high in parts of Europe until the Copper Age, about 5,000 years ago. In some areas, dark skin appeared frequently until even later.

Researchers found that light eyes emerged in Northern and Western Europe between 14,000 and 4,000 years ago, even though dark hair and skin were still dominant at that time. There were those who bucked the trend; as a 1-year-old boy living in Europe about 17,000 years ago had dark hair and skin, but blue eyes.

The genetic basis for lighter skin seems to have emerged in Sweden at about the same time as lighter eyes but initially remained relatively rare. The research also showed a statistical “spike” in the incidence of light eyes color at this time, which suggests that blue or green eyes were more prevalent at that time than earlier or later.

So it looks like the Nazis were wrong. Instead of blond hair and blue eyes proving the owners were “pure”, these traits actually proved these individuals were descended from “mutants”.

But then, all of us are, because that’s how evolution works.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/most-ancient-europeans-had-dark-skin-eyes-and-hair-up-until-3-000-years-ago-new-research-finds/ar-AA1AN5EZ?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=92b66b3d61ca48d8deba7416e37ab7fb&ei=36

A Radio Signal From 15 Billion Miles Away

An aging spacecraft turned on a radio transmitter it hasn’t used in decades.

47-year-old Voyager 1 is back in touch with NASA. A technical issue caused a days-long communications blackout with the historic mission, which is 15 billion miles away, in interstellar space. While engineers work to understand what went wrong, Voyager is now using a radio transmitter it hadn’t used since 1981.

Launched in September 1977, the NASA team has slowly turned off components to conserve power. This has allowed the aging spacecraft to send back science data from time to time.

The probe is the farthest spacecraft from Earth, now operating beyond the heliosphere, which is the sun’s bubble of magnetic fields and particles that extends well beyond Pluto’s orbit. Now Voyager’s instruments can directly sample interstellar space.

The new problem is one of many the vehicle has faced in recent months, but the Voyager’s team keeps finding creative solutions.

Occasionally, engineers command Voyager 1 to turn on some heaters to warm components that have sustained radiation damage. The heat can help reverse the damage. Messages are relayed to Voyager from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory through the Deep Space Network. A system of radio antennas on Earth helps facilitate communications with Voyagers 1 and 2, and other spacecraft. When Voyager 1 sends data about how it is responding to the commands, it takes about 23 hours for a message to travel one way.

But when a recent command to the heater was sent, something triggered the spacecraft’s autonomous fault protection system. If the spacecraft draws more power than it should, this system shuts off non-essential systems. The team discovered the latest issue when it didn’t get the response signal.

Voyager 1 has been using its X-band radio transmitter for decades. Its second transmitter, called the S-band, hasn’t been used since 1981 because its signal is much fainter. The team believes the fault protection system shifted the spacecraft to the S-band transmitter, which uses less power.

The team won’t command Voyager 1 to turn on the X-band transmitter until it figures out what happened, which could take weeks. They want to determine if there are any risks to turning on the X-band. But if the team can get the X-band working again, they may get some data that reveals what happened.

In the meantime, they don’t want to rely on the S-band for too long, because its signal is too weak.

You’ve got to give it to NASA, when they build something, they build it to last. Billions of miles further than a car would.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/aging-spacecraft-starts-up-a-radio-transmitter-it-hasn-t-used-since-1981-from-15-billion-miles-away/ar-AA1tkOkQ?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=6a178edabc1e45ac98d75dfb769caebc&ei=81

An Ice Age Infant

By analyzing the DNA of a baby found in southern Italy, scientists have a striking picture of the young boy. The poorly developed child lived during the Ice Age about 17,000 years ago. He likely had curly dark hair, brown skin, and blue eyes.

In 1998, his remains were discovered in the Grotta delle Mura cave in Monopoli, Puglia. The baby’s bones were carefully covered with rock slabs. With no grave goods, the simple burial was the only grave in the cave.

The largely intact skeleton revealed the child was about 2.5 feet tall when he died. Recent dental examination revealed he was between 8 and 18 months old. Radiocarbon dating stated the remains were 16,910 to 17,320 years old, meaning he lived a few centuries after the Last Glacial Maximum, when glaciers covered a quarter of the planet’s land, some 20,000 years ago.

Ancient skeletons found in warm climates are often too degraded for any significant genetic analysis. But the cave was so cool, the boy’s remains were well preserved. Researchers were able to recover about 75% of the boy’s genome, which is remarkable.

His skin was darker than most modern Europeans’, but his pale blue eyes match those of other western European hunter-gatherers. The infant appears to be related to the Villabruna cluster, a group of post Ice Age people who lived up to 14,000 years ago. This suggests the Villabruna line began in southern Europe well before the end of the Ice Age.

Researchers also determined his cause of death. He had an inherited condition that causes the heart muscle to thicken. This results in fatal congestive heart failure.

Nine accentuated lines marking the baby’s teeth indicate “physiological stress events” that occurred before and after birth. Isotopes in the teeth suggest that his mother stayed in one area during pregnancy and may have been malnourished. His birth was likely difficult, according to a fracture in the baby’s collarbone.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/an-ice-age-infant-s-17-000-year-old-dna-reveals-he-had-dark-skin-and-blue-eyes/ar-AA1sFhf0?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=ed46623d933043f19069e3bf9a8f9350&ei=23

Super-Jupiter Found

The European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft was surveying the Milky Way and found a planet 12 times more massive than Jupiter. This planet, which has been dubbed Gaia-4b, is 244 light-years away and orbits a star smaller than our sun.

Gaia also discovered a brown dwarf, which is not quite a planet or a star. The brown dwarf is called Gaia-5b, is 134 light-years from Earth, and also orbits a star smaller than our sun.

The Gaia spacecraft was recently retired because it was running out of fuel. Both of the enormous celestial objects were made official after confirmation from other instruments. These tidbits of information are an intriguing tease about what other data may be released from the Gaia mission.

According to NASA, the number of confirmed exoplanets is over 5,800, with thousands more candidates under review. It is estimated that this number is a tiny sampling of planets in space.

Gais-4b, the super-Jupiter, is a relatively cold gas giant that orbits its star once every 570 Earth-days. Its star is estimated to be about 2/3 the mass of the sun. Gaia-4b is one of the biggest planets known to circle a small star.

A brown dwarf is sometimes referred to as a failed star because it lacks enough mass to generate its own nuclear power. Gaia-5b orbits an even smaller star, about 1/3 of our sun’s mass, in slightly less than an Earth year. Although Gaia-5b didn’t make it as a star, it’s about 21 times bigger than Jupiter. And Jupiter’s mass is about equal to 318 Earths.

Gaia-4b is the spacecraft’s first success using the “wobble” technique. Launched in 2013, the spacecraft used a pair of optical telescopes to scan the sky. Because of its precision in tracking the motion of stars, it is believed its data may lead to thousands of new discoveries.

The gravity of orbiting planets can cause host stars to wobble. Planet hunters are adept at interpreting this data. But confirmation from other telescopes is key, because there are other possible reasons for the motion.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/spacecraft-finds-a-positively-enormous-planet-12-times-jupiter-s-mass/ar-AA1ys8fc?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=2aff526efe7b4e5086a7c5168c21d057&ei=41

Neanderthals’ Mysterious Extinction

Neanderthal DNA reveals 50,000-year-old viruses that could help explain their extinction. In a study of ancient Neanderthal DNA, researchers found traces of 3 viruses that cause colds, cold sores, genital warts, and cancer.

Ancient humans might have been responsible for spreading these bugs, but I don’t think we need to blame only homo erectus, for there were several types of ancient humans around at the same time as Neanderthals.

Most experts think the Neanderthal species went extinct from a variety of causes, including changing climate, low fertility rates and human interactions. As can be seen from illnesses that swept through American Natives after the arrival of European settlers, trying to recover from unfamiliar illnesses introduced by distant cousins wouldn’t have helped. Poor health can have a negative impact on survival.

Not only could these ancient viruses help explain the Neanderthals’ extinction, but they might help us better understand the modern versions that still infect humans today.

About 54,000 years ago, a group of Neanderthals lived in Chagyrskaya Cave in Southern Siberia. Researchers studied the DNA data of two people from the cave to look for 3 viruses: adenovirus, herpesvirus, and papillomamirus. Adenovirus can cause colds and flu, herpesviruses can cause cold sores or genital warts, and some cancers are linked to papillomavirus.

A 2021 study discovered adenovirus in 31,600-year-old human teeth from Siberia. This more-recent study is nearly 50,000 years old. Some experts estimate humans and Neanderthals interbred between 60,000 and 50,000 years ago. Besides DNA, they probably passed around diseases.

A 2016 study suggested that breeding with Neanderthals may have boosted humans’ immunity to previously unknown diseases. But the Neanderthals may have been less lucky. A cold does not have to be fatal to decrease hunting efficiency or other abilities. With an already small population, getting sick might have contributed to Neanderthals’ extinction roughly 40,000 years ago.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/scientists-discovered-50-000-year-old-viruses-in-neanderthal-dna-that-could-help-explain-their-mysterious-extinction/ar-BB1nKNuC?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=f10bd090b2834e28ca31725fb862078f&ei=41

 

ASD

It’s called Accumulated Stress Disorder. At least, that’s what I call it. It’s symptoms are continued fatigue, a disinterest in doing pretty much everything, and a severe disinterest in the idea of ‘adulting’. That’s what I’ve been dealing with for a couple of weeks now.

I’ve been sleeping about 12 hours at night, and sometimes I lay down for a 2-hr nap in the afternoon. A lot of days, 90% of my to do list for that day gets shunted to the next day. I don’t want to drive anybody to the doctor’s office, not even myself. I don’t want to go shopping or picking up meds or even just leave the house.

But some things can’t be procrastinated, like doctor’s appointments, grocery shopping and picking up meds. So I do them, and when I get home, I try taking a nap. That can help calm me down for the rest of the day, but it’s the sleeping for 12 hours that seems to help tamp down the accumulated stress.

My counselor suggests I book one day a week as ‘Me’ time. A day with no appointments, no errands, just me at home, writing on my latest Work in Progress. I love the idea. I have said many times that writing helps me stay sane. I used to think the weekends were ideal for this, but this weekend, I ran errands for the family on Saturday, and on Sunday, John decided he wanted to go to Walmart, so I drove him there and home again. Then I took a 2-hr nap to calm down and washed the dishes. Thus, the weekend was full of adulting.

But Thursday was empty. I kept it empty so I could spend the day writing. Well, I had to adult for quite a bit of the day, but I did get 3 hours of writing in the afternoon! I wrote over a thousand words, so I was happy about that.

Colorado 'swamp dweller' mammal

Working near Rangely, Colorado, paleontologists have uncovered an unknown state resident—a fossil mammal about the size of a muskrat that may have scurried through swamps during the Age of Dinosaurs.

They identified the creature from a piece of jawbone and 3 molar teeth, and named it Heleocola piceanus. It lived in Colorado roughly 70 to 75 million years ago, at a time when an inland sea covered large portions of the American West. “Heleocola” roughly translates to “swamp dweller” in Latin.

Said one team member, “Colorado is a great place to find fossils, but mammals from this time period tend to be pretty rare. So it’s really neat to see this slice of time preserved in Colorado.”

Compared to the much larger dinosaurs living at the time, like tyrannosaurs or horned ancestors of Triceratops, this new fossil might seem tiny and insignificant. But it was surprisingly large for mammals at the time.

This discovery helps paint a more complete picture of a Colorado that would be all but unrecognizable to residents today. Seventy million years ago, this area was where land met water. Creatures like turtles, duck-billed dinosaurs and giant crocodiles may have flourished in marshes and estuaries, gorging themselves on wetland vegetation and fish.

The bit of mammal jaw emerged from a slab of sandstone that was collected from the site in 2016. The fossil measured about an inch long.

Before an asteroid killed off the non-avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago, mammals tended to be small—about the size of today’s mice or rats. They are largely identified from the tiny teeth they left behind.

In comparison, this one was positively huge. A cousin to modern-day marsupials, this animal weighed 2 pounds or more. But it’s not quite a record. The Didelphodon, another fossil mammal from the same period, may have weighed as much as 11 pounds. H. piceanus’ teeth indicate it dined on plants, with a few insects or small animals mixed in.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/paleontologists-discover-colorado-swamp-dweller-mammal-that-lived-alongside-dinosaurs/ar-AA1sNCLe?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=ed46623d933043f19069e3bf9a8f9350&ei=83 

Review of a Sweet Potato Pie

I decided to try something new this week; review a food item. I don’t normally do this. I normally just eat and make a mental note whether I would eat it again or not. But this was my first Sweet Potato Pie we had this holiday season, and I thought I would try my hand at reviewing it.

I didn’t grow up with sweet potato pie being offered at the holiday table. We had sweet potatoes. They were cooked, mashed with brown sugar and thrown in the oven with a layer of marshmallows on top. Sort of a sweet potato casserole, I guess. And I loved that, but once I became diabetic, I had to give that up.

This year, we stopped at a store we don’t often shop at to look for a dessert, because I’d forgotten to pick up dessert at our regular store. And they had plenty of pies to choose from; blueberry, peach, apple, cherry, sweet potato and pumpkin. I was trying to decide between the fruit pies (I’m not a big fan of pumpkin pie), when my husband suggested a sweet potato pie. He always says I never try anything new, so it surprised him when I agreed. He snatched up a sweet potato pie and headed for the register.

When the time came for dessert on Christmas Day, I took a closer look at that sweet potato pie. It looked a lot like a pumpkin pie, only yellow, not orange. And I didn’t see any little specks of spice in it, like you sometimes see in a pumpkin pie. I cut it into pieces and served it with some whipped cream.

The crust was not really flaky, just a layer of flour crust. The whipped cream was typical, sweet and creamy foam. The filling was creamy, like the filling of a pumpkin pie, but it tasted like sweet potatoes. Like a baked sweet potato, not with the brown sugar and marshmallow sweetness of my childhood sweet potato casserole. So I ate it, but I thought it could have used some cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice, even though that would make it more like the pumpkin pie I’m not that fond of.

Would I eat it again? Probably. If it was a choice between it or pumpkin pie. Or mincemeat pie. But I’m in no hurry to learn how to make it.